109

Is he who founded his building upon fear of Allahu ta’ālā and, in hope of, beatitude, from Him, better, or he who founded his building upon the brink, the edge, of a bank, an overhang, that is crumbling, about to collapse (read juruf or jurf) so that it toppled with him, so that it collapsed [taking] with it the one who built it, into the fire of Hell?: [this is] an excellent similitude for building upon that which constitutes the opposite of fear of Allahu ta’ālā and [for] what it leads to; the interrogative is meant as an affirmative: in other words, the former is the better, which is the likeness of the [building of the] mosque of Qubā', while the latter is the likeness of the mosque of 'harm' (masjid al-dirār). And Allahu ta’ālā guides not the evildoing folk.

109 ﴿